The parole plea moved by Vikas Yadav, convicted for killing Nitish Katara, was today transferred to another bench of the Delhi High Court which is hearing arguments on sentence to be awarded to the three convicts in the case.

Justice Pratibha Rani, before whom the plea was listed, refused to hear it saying the regular bench which is hearing arguments on punishment to be handed down to Vikas, his cousin Vishal Yadav and Sukhdev Pehalwan, will hear the matter. The regular bench will now hear Vikas' plea on August 22.

In his petition, Vikas, son of politician D P Yadav, has sought three months' parole on the ground that he has to visit his 93-year-old grandfather, who has recently undergone angioplasty. He said that he has been in jail for the past 12-and-a- half years and his conduct has been good throughout.

Vikas also said that he wishes to challenge in the Supreme Court his conviction by the high court in the murder case and requires time to prepare his appeal.

In his plea, he further said that he had approached the Delhi government to grant him parole under the special rights given to prisoners. However, no decision was taken and hence, he approached the high court. Vikas, Vishal and Sukhdev are serving life term for abducting and killing Katara, a business executive and son of an IAS officer, on the intervening night of February 16-17, 2002. They did not approve of the victim's affair with Bharti, daughter of D P Yadav.

The high court had on April 2 upheld the verdict of the lower court in the case by describing the offence as "honour killing" stemming from a "deeply-entrenched belief" in caste system.

Katara was abducted and killed by Vikas, Vishal and Sukhdev as they did not approve of the victim's affair with Bharti because they belong to different castes, the court had said. The high court had dismissed the appeals of the convicts and kept pending two separate pleas of the state and Neelam Katara seeking death penalty for them.